I'm obsessed with low power loads.........

[GARD72977]

I'm not really sure where this comes from. I'm a airgun enthusiast so maybe that's it.

I have been shooting reduced 30-06 loads for a while now. Started shooting 38-55 @+/- 1000fps. It's honestly the most fun I have had with a gun in a long time. Part of it is just learning something new.

I posted about doing a 327 fed in a single shot rifle not long ago. I had said the reasons for doing this would be economy and ease of reloading a small straight wall case progressively.

I'm coming to realize that as reloaders we are always trying to find the best way to do something. I load these larger case always wishing there was less capacity. Wouldn't it be nice to have the perfect capacity for light loads? That's the answer. I'm searching for the perfect cartridge to achieve what I want.

I fell much better saying it's the perfect cartridge. Talking about economy and easy to reload does not have the same warm your heart feeling.

There are a few obsticals but I'm going to make this happen.

[richhodg66]

The .30-30 is about as close to perfect if you ever want to load back up again. Something like five grains of Bullseye and a 100-110 grain bullet. You can go even lighter if you want.

[quilbilly]

I have been finding that Red Dot is also great for reduced loads and is easier to see when peering into the case with a flashlight after charging to prevent double charges.

[Rainier]

It’s possible I may have my history completely wrong but didn’t Doug Wesson build the 357 Magnum, to use with the Ideal 360363, just for reduced loads in a straight walled cartridge? ;)

[Woodbridge 30-30]

The .30-30 is about as close to perfect if you ever want to load back up again. Something like five grains of Bullseye and a 100-110 grain bullet. You can go even lighter if you want.I just bought a Chaszel 30-30 barrel liner and am looking forward to putting together some of these plinker loads you mentioned for it.

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[dverna]

I'm not really sure where this comes from. I'm a airgun enthusiast so maybe that's it.

I have been shooting reduced 30-06 loads for a while now. Started shooting 38-55 @+/- 1000fps. It's honestly the most fun I have had with a gun in a long time. Part of it is just learning something new.

I posted about doing a 327 fed in a single shot rifle not long ago. I had said the reasons for doing this would be economy and ease of reloading a small straight wall case progressively.

I'm coming to realize that as reloaders we are always trying to find the best way to do something. I load these larger case always wishing there was less capacity. Wouldn't it be nice to have the perfect capacity for light loads? That's the answer. I'm searching for the perfect cartridge to achieve what I want.

I fell much better saying it's the perfect cartridge. Talking about economy and easy to reload does not have the same warm your heart feeling.

There are a few obsticals but I'm going to make this happen.

YES, YES, YES!!!

Many people do not understand. The ease of reloading means it must be a straight walled cartridge. I wound up doing that with the .38 Spl. for many years. Three rifles and four pistols...but never found an affordable accurate single shot or bolt action rifle...as I do not like shooting break open guns off the bench.

This week things came to a head. I sold some primers and investing $1500 for a used Ruger No 1 in .357 was no longer as “silly”. But I would still need to reload for it...and it made no sense. I am selling primers for $100/1000.... I doubt primers will ever drop much below $40/1000. Then add in the cost and time to cast accurate bullets, clean brass and reload. Match quality .22 pellets are $40/1000. I sold off more primers...bought a $1000 Daystate...and will buy a $600 compressor. Even during this shortage, pellets are in stock and on sale at some places,

I will never need to worry about shortages again. I will not need to wear hearing protection. The gun will shoot dime size groups at 50 yards with $40/1000 pellets. It will take out squirrels and such at 75 yards.

Not sure how much I will miss shooting a “real” gun. But I know I will not miss casting, sizing, cleaning brass or reloading....just to punch paper.

[ShooterAZ]

The 30-30 is perfect for these type of loads. I like the Lee TL314-90-SWC bullet, sized to .311 and loaded over 2.7 grains of Bullseye or 7 grains of Trail Boss. Both loads will give 900-950 FPS with outstanding accuracy. I very lightly lube with Lee Liquid Alox (LLA) and shoot them out of my Win 94 and T/C Contender. Miles of Smiles with these loads.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010195352

[BigAlofPa.]

I too love loading rifles with cast data. It's nice to go and shoot 20 rounds of 30.06. Then jump to 30/30 and run off 20 rounds. Then grab one of my milsurps and continue on. And no sore shoulder when done.

[ShooterAZ]

For 30-06 or 308W use the same Lee TL314-90-SWC (sized to .311) and 3.2 grains of Bullseye. Same for the 7.62x54R (but size to .314), same 3.2 grain Bullseye load. You will not believe how well these little boolits shoot.

[charlie b]

I agree about pipsqueak loads. Here is where I started.

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm

There used to be cartridge 'inserts' so you could shoot .32acp in a .30-06 (and maybe .308?).

If you want low power rifle cartridges then the little single shots were perfect. .32-20, Hornet, etc. Now days a light .38spl or .38-40 load is great in a rifle.

[Winger Ed.]

I used to make reduced loads for .38Spec. to play around with in the yard
after I'd gotten a little tired from pumping up the .22 Benjamin.

I saved up old soap bars when they got down to about 1/2" thick.
Then push a SPM primed case down onto them like a cookie cutter.

[jeepyj]

Mouse fart loads are a bunch of fun. I have a load for camp to be easy on the neighbors.
For my 38spl I use 1.9gr of BE over a Lyman #358425 115gr ended up being 514fps over my crony. If the light is just right sometimes you can actually see them fly.
**Disclaimer. This is not in a manual and one must do there own research!

[dbosman]

My small hobby is to load Lyman 311016 or 311008 in any .30 calibre cartridge to shoot to the same point of aim at 25 yards as the hunting load at 100 yards, with no sight or scope adjustments. Acceptable accuracy -for me- might annoy some of you. ;-)

[bpatterson84]

I absolutely love suppressed loads of any caliber in the 6-850fps range. Ridiculous how cool they are, and the reactions they evoke from anyone around is pretty fun too.

[NoZombies]

This is why I built the 22 ladybug.

Without a can it's as quiet or quieter than .22LR subsonic, with a can, it's quiet enough to shoot outside a sleeping baby's window without any fear of waking her.

[P Flados]

One of my favorite guns for standing practice is my 8" 32 ACP rimmed stub barrel (I made it from a chunk of an old 30-30 barrel) for my Contender.

I fabricated the brass to fit a 32 S&W long shell holder to make it easier to work with.

It does just over 1000 fps with a 55 gr 0.314" BLL coated NLG boolit (see photo) in front of 2.1 grs Titegroup and is a joy to shoot.

[RU shooter]

The 32 Miller short has quite a reputation for accuracy

[rugerman1]

This is why I built the 22 ladybug.

Without a can it's as quiet or quieter than .22LR subsonic, with a can, it's quiet enough to shoot outside a sleeping baby's window without any fear of waking her.
Had to read-up on your cartridge,Tony. Soo cool!

[GARD72977]

There is a very wide range of comment here. If I wanted 308 ballistics I would not buy a 300PRC and down load it.

[NoZombies]

Had to read-up on your cartridge,Tony. Soo cool!

It's been a while Mark, Thanks for the compliment! How's life been?

[Drm50]

I shoot 98gr RCBS 32cal FN bullet sized .310” at 1200 FPS in my 30/30.

[Texas by God]

Every rifle cartridge I have ever had for a manually operated action gets its own light load. It is fun to develop the load and fun to shoot them. And hunting small game with them is good practice. On calibers that I don't cast for, those leftover partial boxes of jacketed bullets get used - over Red Dot or Unique.

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[rbuck351]

I prefer older rifles with small case rounds like 22H, 22KH, 25/20, 256 win, 32/20 and the like. Any smaller straight wall round is fine as well from 25 acp, 32 S&W up to 45Colt. The thing I prefer about the small calibers is the small amount of powder and lead it takes to shoot up to 125yds or so for a small game rifle. Even the 30/30 is not a bad choice for the light boolits. Price of powder goes up a bit when making it shoot to 150 yds though.

[barrabruce]

I load my 30-30 with light weight bullets and heavies low power too.
I really enjoy it.
I have a martini 310 cadet which I load by finger seating the cast bullet in the case.
I load where ever I feel comfortable and not tied down to a specific place.
I enjoy loading at the range as well.
Now if they put all the big cannons down one end and us mild report makers up the other; things would be great.

Ohhh! I figured out I think that a bullet going 960 fps is about the same holder over at 300 metres as it is for a full blown 308 at 1000.

I like the bang....and ....wait for it......clang.... at 300mtres.

I have to get out to 500 somehow with something.
Maybe I’ll work on that this year.

Now while I got your ear and chewing on it.
Did you hear the time I tried some glue bullets and primer charge in the 30-30.
Without powder they primer fouled the tube up real quick and bounced off the cardboard/core flute at 25 yards.
With 1 gn bulleye I could pluck them out of the target And load them again with a bit of a rub down and some vasalene for lube.
They weren’t real accurate thou.

Have fun..

[Gewehr-Guy]

About 90% of my shooting now is reduced .30 cal loads with plain based bullets and shotgun powders, because they are cheap , fun and accurate. Mostly in 30-06, Krag, 7.5 Swiss, and 7.62 Russian. My most used bullet is .311403 , unsized at .314 and tumble lubed. If the wind isn't blowing , it can be accurate to 200yds.

While a .327 would be great in a petite little single shot, I think I would rather build one in .38 Spl. , so I can load with a Star Loader, also because my fat aging fingers don't handle those small cases and bullets as well as they used to.

[GhostHawk]

I love the .30-30 with its long neck and full size case. Even if I am only putting 4-6 grains of Red Dot below a Lee 90 grain .314 TL bullet sized to .311. It shoots great. Same sights zero'd for full power loads at 100 yards were right in the bull at 25 yards with my light loads. And you could instantly feel the difference without eyes between the short TC TL bullet and the 186 gr round nose flat point of a full power load.

I also love the little .32sw long, straight case, can load almost anything in it with a moderate 2 gr of Red Dot Load and whatever you want on top. And they shoot!

This is one of the few guns that could tempt me. .32sw long or .32H&R mag in a light single shot with scope/Red Dot.

Don't need to go fast, don't need more power. Just love that quiet pop and another cast boolit smacking the bull dead center.

I have a Rolling Block in .32sw long, think it was reworked from .32 rimfire, and barrel relined. But I just have not found the accuracy I'd like with it. At 25 yards its ok but at 50 it is degrading badly. It is ok as it is a great wall hanger and conversation piece. Its one of my bucket guns so its safe enough where it is. But at 50 yards I would prefer to be able to drive tacks or punch out squirrel eyes.

[kbstenberg]

If you are looking for small cartridges to help eliminate double charges. 2 cases to look at would be 7TCU and the BO.

[ebb]

Bingo!! the 300blk is in my thoughts they way to go so as not to have so much extra case capacity. I have wanted a suppressed rifle and excess case capacity is a huge accuracy killer. I don't have a 223 bolt face so I decided on one to fit my Turk Mauser. I used a friends die to push back the shoulder on 308 cases and made 30 br cases with a longgg neck. I haven't cut the neck off yet so maybe a cast bullet style cartridge is in my future.

[Monobill]

Like to hear more about your experiences with the 22 ladybug?

[10x]

Way back in the 1960s Turner Kirkland summed up short range black powder accuracy. The ball or bullet must fit the bore and have just enough powder to get it to the target. I have applied this to a number of rifles I shoot with smokeless powder.
Starting with 22 hornet, a 37 grain powder coated PB (Plain base) sized at 0.225" and Unique or Dupont Bulk. (Dupont bulk is best measured with a scale and adjust loads with screened Bulk in a trickler). The gun and load - a Savage bolt action single shot, model 40 are more accurate than I ever hope to be. Noise is less than an air rifle, recoil is almost nil Data for Dupont Bulk in the 22 Hornet can be found in Lyman #38....

[reddog81]

I bought a Ruger American Ranch in 300 Blackout back in July and already have 700+ rounds through it. It's very easy to reload for and 800 to 1,000 FPS is easy with anything from 120 to 200 grain bullets. I'm sure you could go lower but I haven't tried that yet. The case is technically not a straight walled case but I only use Hornady One Shot for case lube so it's just as easy as anything else I reload for. Between the ease of reloading, bullet selection, case availability, and versatile load data I have been very impressed.

[357Mag]

Guard -

Howdy !

You can use Trailboss. I was able to fill a .35 Remington case completely full ( 14.5gr ) w/ Trailboss, under a swaged 150SPBT patched w/
"DYMO" label maker tape.

Barely noticeable recoil.


With regards,
357Mag

[popper]

BO with the 110gr hornady and 5 gr of pistol powder is fun. And 10gr Unique gets to 1900 fps. 3# recoil force!!

[GARD72977]

I have been shooting a 300BO (300/221) since 1998. The first was a 12" pistol barrel with 1/10 twist for big bore hand gun. A few years later I ordered a T/C custom shop 300/221 20" carbine barrel with 1/10 twist. Both barrells are very accurrate. I think a 1/12 or 1/14 twist would work better.

[dverna]

Like to hear more about your experiences with the 22 ladybug?

Why would you want one?

A reloadable .22 might be nice when you cannot get .22's. But buying a few cases of .22 when times are good is a lot smarter.

With primers at $100/1000, if you can find them, reloading for a LB does not make much sense. Think it through...custom rifle with custom cases, and cast bullets. A plinking round that cannot be reloaded on a progressive press. Even if you have a huge stash of primers, will you use them to make plinking ammunition or sell them for $100/1000? Frankly, I would not do it even if primers were $30/1000...what's the point...except it is "neat".

What No Zombies accomplished is fantastic work, but of little practical use.

If you need/want something quieter than a .22 LR buy a good air rifle. Feed it match pellets costing $40/1000 and it will put them in one ragged hole at 25 yards. If you want to shoot .22's, buy them when they go back on sale and stock up.

I like 10x's approach if you want to cast and reload for some reason.

[RU shooter]

I have been shooting a 300BO (300/221) since 1998. The first was a 12" pistol barrel with 1/10 twist for big bore hand gun. A few years later I ordered a T/C custom shop 300/221 20" carbine barrel with 1/10 twist. Both barrells are very accurrate. I think a 1/12 or 1/14 twist would work better. my first 300BO I built(AR) was set up like that I had no use for the heavy subsonic bullets so I got a 20"1:12 twist barrel made shot cast bullets quite well . In a bolt action you could go as slow or fast as you want .

[GARD72977]

Guard -

Howdy !

You can use Trailboss. I was able to fill a .35 Remington case completely full ( 14.5gr ) w/ Trailboss, under a swaged 150SPBT patched w/
"DYMO" label maker tape.

Barely noticeable recoil.


With regards,
357Mag
No offense but this is exactly what I'm getting away from.

[ShooterAZ]

My only 300 Blackout is an AR, so these powderpuff type loads obviously won't cycle it. Great cartridge, but if I wanted a a 30 Cal smallish cased cartridge barrel for my Contender right now I'd probably opt for a rimmed version such as the 32-20 (32WCF). That one would be fun.

[barrabruce]

One of the many 30 cal 357 mag could be good too.

I wanna tight chamber for my cases so I don’t have to size.

Finger seat a bullet and let the action finish it off in a single shot.
Wouldn’t be too hard to de-re primer a case then drop a powder charge.
Prolly not what you are looking for thou.

[SweetMk]

My only 300 Blackout is an AR, so these powderpuff type loads obviously won't cycle it.

My AR 300 BO cycles perfectly with the PowderPuff load that I used.
I think the trick is that I used 220 grain bullets.
I used the CFEBLK powder, the round is positively sub-sonic,, and it cycles the AR.

It might be tough to get cycling with a lighter projectile,,:(

[Martin Luber]

7 gr of Bullseye in a 30-06 is awesome and lower quality boolets work well. I think the reduced muzzle blast is the reason a poor quality base will shoot well.

[357Mag]

Guard -


OOOOpps !


Sorry if I misread. A thousand appologies !


With regards,
357Mag

[GARD72977]

Guard -


OOOOpps !


Sorry if I misread. A thousand appologies !


With regards,
357Mag

No reason to apologize. Glad to see so many people enjoy these light loads.

[Texas by God]

I'm going to cast some Lee TL314 90gr SWC tomorrow for 30-30 Win and 30-40 Krag fun. I'm going to give Accurate #2 a try for a few but can fall back on Bullseye or Unique if things don't go right.

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[reddog81]

I have been shooting a 300BO (300/221) since 1998. The first was a 12" pistol barrel with 1/10 twist for big bore hand gun. A few years later I ordered a T/C custom shop 300/221 20" carbine barrel with 1/10 twist. Both barrells are very accurrate. I think a 1/12 or 1/14 twist would work better.

Depends on what your shooting. 1/14 would be fine for supersonic options. For 200 grains at 800 FPS I’d take 1:7 every time.

[10x]

Mention of reduced loads for hunting brings back fond memories of a hunt in the Ram River area of the Eastern Rockies in Alberta. The Blue grouse population cycle was at its peak. A walk through the woods or down the access trail would result in seeing between 50 to over 200 over the course of a day. I had my Stevens Crackshot and 200 rounds of Flobert Patronen CB caps. At 5 to 10 yards it was extremely accurate and had almost zero report. Less than an air rifle.
We had an elk hunter with us who was death on shooting grouse with a 22 (Legal in Alberta) because he believed the sound of the shot would spook the Elk and they would leave the area. I went for a short hunt with the 22 and CB caps and came back with my limit of 10 grouse, cleaned and ready for supper. The Elk hunter saw the grouse and asked where they had cam from since he had heard no shot. Upon hearing my story he said "Give me that gun and ammo" and proceeded to take a 20 minute walk coming back with 6 more grouse for supper.
Blue grouse breasts and legs with salt and pepper fried in butter over an open fire.
After that his day included a hour walk with the Stevens and grouse for every meal.
That hunting trip convinced me that there is a place for a 37 grain bullet at less than 1000 fps with limited report.

[charlie b]

These light loads can be accurate. These are from my .308 using 8.0gn of Blue Dot. Lee 180 bullet mold.

274317

It is really fun at the range to see people's faces. The rifle is a Savage heavy barrel set up for long range. Usually am shooting 155gn at 600-1000yds. So then I put in some of my light loads and the looks from people are funny. It's like shooting with a can. Several have come over to warn me about squib loads :) Then I tell them to watch the soda can at 100yd as it bursts from the shot.

The range I am at has a steel ram set up at 300yd. Shoot, wait a bit, clang! Makes me laugh every time.

And did I mention how cheap it is to shoot? 900 rounds from a pound of powder.

[bcp477]

Have to say that I share the obsession with reduced power loads. The cartridge that got me into hand loading was the 7.92x57JS (commonly called the "8mm Mauser"). Very close to the 30/06 and I always found the recoil to be unpleasant. Bullet availability was always a problem, too...so that got me into cast boolits...and ultimately, into paper patching. Where I ended up was a 170 grain paper-patched boolit, loaded to approximately 30/30 ballistics. With that, through my old Yugo M48, with a replacement barrel, I could put 10 out of 10 into a 2.5" circle at 200 yards - plenty good enough for me. Also, the wimpy (as some called them) downloaded PP loads did just fine on the whitetail deer I hunted at the time.

I always reasoned that lighter loads produce less wear and tear on the gun, the brass...and my shoulder. And they are easier to shoot accurately, as well. So what's not to like ? I always said that I loaded only up to the point of what I needed to get the job done - any more was a waste.

Even today, when all I shoot is a 20 gauge shotgun, I still do reduced power slug loads for it.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I like shooting cast out of my rifles. But I prefer staying in the 1650 fps range. I recently loaded up about 350 .308 with gas checked 160 gr. boolits over 17 grains of 2400. Now I'm loading the same boolit over 15 grs. for 30-30. So these are 60% loads. Low recoil and blast makes them easy to hit with off hand and they are very accurate to boot. #2 alloy lubed with 45/45/10.

I had tried some 1000 fps loads with Unique and Titegroup but these did not hold my interest for some reason. They were also very accurate and had the bonus of being plain based loads.

[Woodbridge 30-30]

I like this thread because, unlike higher pressure loadings, everyone seems happy to share their actual preferred load details.

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[robg]

i like to shoot a lot so light loads are the ticket,love shooting accurate loads . people have this funny idea that lead is not accurate .fun to show them they are incorrect.

[Flailguy]

I'm still fairly new to casting and reloading in general but the more I do the more I lean towards light loads.
I almost exclusively use Unique. 13.5 with a 350gn boolit in 45-70, 8 with a 280gr boolit in 44mag, 4.5 with a 130gr in 9mm, 4 with a 120gr in 327fed.
I still occasionally load ruger no.1 for my 45-70, and h110 in the 44 but its few and far between.

[highbrow]

I am mostly a lurker here. Recently have become semi retired and have the time to experiment with light loads. Have been using 5 gr Titewad under 165 gr plain based boolit in 30-30 in my M94 carbine. Good accuracy to 50 yards and essentially no recoil. Bore looks clean after 50 rounds.

[barrabruce]

Charlie b that is really sumpth’n you got going there.

[10x]

These light loads can be accurate. These are from my .308 using 8.0gn of Blue Dot. Lee 180 bullet mold.

274317

It is really fun at the range to see people's faces. The rifle is a Savage heavy barrel set up for long range. Usually am shooting 155gn at 600-1000yds. So then I put in some of my light loads and the looks from people are funny. It's like shooting with a can. Several have come over to warn me about squib loads :) Then I tell them to watch the soda can at 100yd as it bursts from the shot.

The range I am at has a steel ram set up at 300yd. Shoot, wait a bit, clang! Makes me laugh every time.

And did I mention how cheap it is to shoot? 900 rounds from a pound of powder.

I fondly recall Lee 150 grain Gas check, alox lubed bullets, 28 grains of IMR 3031, sighted in for 100 meters, then using the bottom duplex as a post at 250 meters and hitting an 8" gong 5 shots out of 5 offhand. This was done with a Santa Barbara commercial M98 in 30/06 in front of witnesses. Using the duplex as a post sight put the cross hairs about 40" over the gong .
That was over 30 years ago, but fondly remembered

[charlie b]

Charlie b that is really sumpth’n you got going there.

Yep, that was a really good day. Most of the time they are 1" to 1.5" at 100yd. :)

And I don't shoot them very often. Most of the time I shoot 210gn bullets at 1900fps and longer ranges, 200-400yd.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

i like to shoot a lot so light loads are the ticket,love shooting accurate loads . people have this funny idea that lead is not accurate .fun to show them they are incorrect.

Way back I had tried some hardcast out of my GP 100 and got bad leading. That kept me away from casting my own, especially for rifle since I figured the leading would be worse. What I've discovered since then is that rifles are easier to get results from than my handguns.

[PAndy]

1150 fps ballpark is about as slow as I can stand with 30-30. They are so quiet it feels like I forgot to put the powder in. 7 grains of american select or clean shot or win wst...and usually a 155 gr cast bullet. I do not go this mild with jacketed bullets in a rifle...weird stuff can happen.

[Krag 1901]

I have a bunch of 92 gr .30 Luger/Mauser boolets left over from my broomhandle and tried them in my .308 with 8-9 gr and 700x. very fun and okay at 50 yds. I'm gonna do tat again until I shoot up all those 92s. these are a plain based boolet so no gas checks need apply at ~1100-1200 fps.
I'll look for some cast .32 100 gr in commercial cast bullets fr hand guns. I think those would do as well. No use casting up my rifle alloy if I can buy them.
I'm thinking that a .327 Fed Mag would be great in a single shot rifle like a small RB or a Cadet. IIRC< Navy Arms made small RB in .357 pistol. That action would be great in a rifle about five pounds with a 20" barrel.

Maybe Ruger should resurrect the small RB action in their Rem line in .327 Fed and .357 Max? Investment casting would make that a very inexpensive piece.

[NorthMoccasin]

The 32 H&R in a contender carbine is ideal for low power, cheap and easy to load fun. Many many molds are available and it is quite accurate. I use bullets from 60 gr to 150 gr . Its FUN to shoot and hunt tree rats with!

[NorthMoccasin]

The 32 H&R in a contender carbine is ideal for the low power, cheap and easy to load, many many molds available and quite accurate. I use bullets from 60 gr to 150 gr . Its FUN to shoot and hunt tree rats with!

[NEKVT]

I wanted to develop a cheap low power load for my Ruger M77 6mm Rem without getting all set up to cast for it. Ended up pushing #3 buckshot (.250) through a Lee .243 sizer, tumble lubing with LLA, finger press fit into a slightly expanded case mouth and loaded with 2.0gr 700x it would shoot 10 into an inch at 25yds at just over 1000fps - good enough for plinking and a lot more fun than dry firing for practice. For a bit more zip an 80gr jacketed bullet with 16.0gr IMR 4227 with no filler would put three shots into the same hole at 50yds. When my kids were real young they would shoot this load off a bench at blocks of 2x4's setup at 100yds...and made it into a woodchuck hunting game.

[charlie b]

Reduced loads are kinda fun at all levels.

If we could afford separate rifles then it would make better sense to just buy something like a bench rest rifle chambered for a .30 cal with a smaller case.